iPhone 15 Models Feature New Setting to Strictly Prevent Charging Beyond 80%

[^^BIGMac]

Seems silly. Lots of people get a new phone every year. What’s the point? #dumb

My iPhone 12 Pro is being replaced this year. So I’ve had it 3+ years and charge it every night no matter the battery level and it’s at 86% maximum capacity. This feature is some Apple BS.

 

[gigapocket1]

Wish I could go up to 90%

 

[eekram]

Not surprised Apple took this long to implement this feature as Samsung has had it for several years now on their phone and tablets and this is the first setting I enable when I get a new device.

 

[h.gilbert]

Seems silly. Lots of people get a new phone every year.

And even more people don't get a new phone every year.

 

[SkydiveGuy]

As ridiculous as this is that it cant be enabled for any other model than the 15, I fail to see why this feature even matters since most people complaining about it wont need to worry about battery life longevity since they will buy a new device ever year or two anyways.

 

[topcat001]

And even more people don't get a new phone every year.

Indeed. Still have my X and plan to keep it as long as possible.

 

[Nadam23]

What they need is an option to hold your battery at 80%, show 80% as 100%, and then over time as your battery depletes, increase the percentage it charges to. So, for instance, when your battery drops to 95% health/capacity, it charges to 85% to make up for that, so that your battery life is at least consistent over time. And on a phone like the iPhone Pro Max, you could do this without it impacting most people. On smaller phones, it might be nice to get a battery bump before they implement that option.

I think my DJI drone does something similar. It will fly on 0% for a while if you keep forcing the return to home activation off. It will beep at you like crazy with all kinds of warnings but you can force it for a bit. I think by default it only uses a certain percentage of the battery, and I think that's because it needs to keep the peak voltage high enough to power the motors. Kinda like how over time the iPhone can't operate at peak performance during heavy usage spikes.

So if Apple was able to put a battery in the iPhone with a higher capacity rating, they could just mark the charge level in software by default at 80% but display as 100% and then have a deep menu override setting for advanced users, pop up a message about how disabling this may reduce the iPhone battery lifespan, and then disable it for those who just want the most battery life and only use their phone for a year or two. But even for me on my 14 Pro Max, after a year, my battery health is at 88% and I use optimized charging. I imagine after two years it's not going to be great. In past years I don't remember my iPhone battery grinding down this much in a year since I'm on the iPhone Upgrade Program, and I almost exclusively use MagSafe charging which is slower than wired but also might produce more heat? Before this year it was a mix of wired and wireless, and before that it was mostly slower charging wireless 7.5W with some wired mixed in. I will need to start tracking this over time.

Yeah I have a Mustang Mach E and Ford, behind the scenes, reserves around 3% of the battery on the top end of the charge and 3% on the bottom end. It’s all behind the scenes though. So when I charge to 100% it’s actually only around 97%. And if I were to get to 0% I’d still have some range left.

And still with this Ford recommends only charging to 90% unless you are going on longer trips where you need the longer range.

It makes more sense in cars though because most days you aren’t depleting your battery close to 0. So you can get by fine with a 80 or 90% max daily charge.

Although they are putting newer battery technology in their upcoming model year cars and they say there’s no damage in charging all the way to 100%. Maybe that tech will come to phones and there won’t be as much degradation in the future.

 

[QuarterSwede]

What is the point of any battery if charging past 80% causes excessive wear and tear. Same with EV’s. Just plain dump. I want the full capacity always, so develop battery technology that does that.

I also don’t get the point of artificially limiting yourself to 80% from day 1 instead of in 2 years when your phone is down to that. At least you got 2 years of 80%-100% usage. The only time this makes any sense if you’re the type that flips your phone to sell for a new one. But in reality, how many people actually do that?

 

[Act3]

Yeah I have a Mustang Mach E and Ford, behind the scenes, reserves around 3% of the battery on the top end of the charge and 3% on the bottom end. It’s all behind the scenes though. So when I charge to 100% it’s actually only around 97%. And if I were to get to 0% I’d still have some range left.

And still with this Ford recommends only charging to 90% unless you are going on longer trips where you need the longer range.

Although they are putting newer battery technology in their upcoming model year cars and they say there’s no damage in charging all the way to 100%. Maybe that tech will come to phones and there won’t be as much degradation in the future.

Not a great comparison. An iPhone battery costs 99 bucks to replace. How much to replace a EV battery? I would follow the Ford recommendation.

 

[Nadam23]

Not a great comparison. An iPhone battery costs 99 bucks to replace. How much to replace a EV battery? I would follow the Ford recommendation.

I’m not really comparing. Just pointing out that Ford limits some of the battery charge but still shows 100% charge if you charge it all the way up in order to conserve the battery. Apple could do something like that.

 

[jimbobb24]

I wish I could set my watch to be limited to 80% without the intelligent part.

 

[Mr. Dee]

If users would keep their iPhone until it was unsupported you wouldn’t need to complaint when they artificially limit features.

 

[shapesinaframe]

Keep it up Apple, I'm already looking at Apple Watch alternatives (Garmin with 14+ day battery life and built in workouts with no subscription is looking very attractive). Next will be an iPhone alternative.

 

[King Cleanass]

optimized charging literally never worked for me, since I just charge when it's low, rather than on a set schedule.

it should be based off usage times, not charging times.

 

[Brandon42]

How long before these headlines and online comments? "Apple intentionally limits battery capacity!"

There was a silly issue with EVs and the EPA range ratings for a while. The EPA range was with all settings on, so any EV that included a charge to 80% limit setting would get hit with a lower listed range.

 

[Wanted797]

I mean, I totally get why this can’t be rolled out to older models of the iPhone, especially the iPhone 14 range as that’s so inferior to the 15.

Normal Apple BS and hopefully they make it available to those of us who won’t be getting the 15 this year.

No they want you to ruin your old model iPhone.

 

[^^BIGMac]

And even more people don't get a new phone every year.

And read the rest of my post. I’ve had my phone 3 1/2 years. No problem with the battery after charging every night to 100%. Cherry picking a post is disingenuous.

 

[JPack]

I also don’t get the point of artificially limiting yourself to 80% from day 1 instead of in 2 years when your phone is down to that. At least you got 2 years of 80%-100% usage. The only time this makes any sense if you’re the type that flips your phone to sell for a new one. But in reality, how many people actually do that?

Many people pass their iPhone down to family members - could be kids or parents.

Most users don't use the full 100% battery capacity every day, so why charge to 100%?

 

[BuddyTronic]

All of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models feature a new battery health setting that prevents the devices from charging beyond 80% at all times when enabled, as confirmed by The Verge's Allison Johnson during a Q&A session today.

The new setting is separate from the pre-existing Optimized Battery Charging feature on iPhones, which intelligently delays charging past 80% until a more appropriate time by learning the device's daily charging routine. When the 80% hard limit is enabled, the iPhone will never charge past that point whatsoever.

On all iPhone 15 models, there are three options under Settings → Battery → Battery Health & Charging → Charging Optimization:

• Optimized Battery Charging
• 80% Limit
• None

As with Optimized Battery Charging, the 80% hard limit can improve an iPhone battery's lifespan by reducing the time that the battery is fully charged.

The new setting was previously discovered in iOS 17 code by software researcher Steve Moser.

Apple says all of the iPhone 15 models have the same battery life as iPhone 14 models. The devices launch this Friday.

Article Link: iPhone 15 Models Feature New Setting to Strictly Prevent Charging Beyond 80%

I need that feature for my son's iPad mini, but I need it limited to 10%.

 

[August West]

Finally about time. Ill turn this feature on as soon as I get my hands on the 15 pro max.

Yep. I do this manually now on my iPhone but the Android phones I used many years ago had the feature and you also weren't limited to 80%. You could set it to whatever you wanted but at least 80% is better than nothing.

 

[MareLuce]

This will be great for long car journeys.

Why would you not want to be at 100% charged when on a road trip?

ex:
for the What If... car trouble,
a long night out after the car journey,
etc?

 

[bigjnyc]

... how is this iPhone 15 only...

Oh just Apple doing asinine greedy Apple things

 

[sumarlidason]

iPads need love too

 

[lJoSquaredl]

I charge to 80% every morning cuz most of the time I never drop below 40-50% by the time I get home at night anyways, but then I charge it again before bed cuz I drain my battery around 30% as I sleep to something playing off my phone. Would it be better to keep my phone plugged in all night at 80% instead if I'm upgrading to an iPhone 15?

 

[morrison22]

Going above 80% or below 20% is what stresses the battery the most. Charging between those points is no problem. Charge as much as you like and as often you like, but stay out of the top and bottom 20%

What about the method used to charge… Mix and match fast charging with wireless charging? Will that have any negative effects on battery health?